A Necessary Sacrifice
by Riza Winters
Summary: Right after Aizen cut Halibel down, someone caught her, someone saved her. Now Grimmjow and Halibel must decide to either fufill or reject their natures of Sacrifice and Destruction. Oneshot.


**_AN: this takes place in the final battle in Karakurah, after Aizen decided he no longer has a use for Halibel. Also, between Manga and Anime and google searches I am getting two different spellings of her name, either Harribel or Halibel, but I like Halibel better so that's what I went with. Hopr you enjoy this oneshot, it was a random inspiration but I liked it._**

**_Thanks,_**

**_Riza._**

* * *

Halibel plummeted through the sky. Just moments ago she'd been fighting three warriors, she'd been holding her own against Toshiro Hitsugaya, a Soul Reaper Captain _and_ two vizards, bent on getting her revenge for her fallen friends, and on pleasing her master who watched on, silently.

Then he had struck, his word meaningless to her, saying he no longer had a use for her, and as she fell, her mind processed many things, but most of all, anger.

"AIZEN!" She hurled herself at him, ready to die just to lay a scratch on him, just to make a mark on him that would remind him she's had lived, she had died. The second slash went through the middle of her chest, she hollered and had no time to dodge the next strike, the one that would end it all.

But it didn't happen. She was struck, but not by steel. Instead, something warm and strong enveloped her bloodied torso, striking her in the midst of Sodino, carrying her several feet away. She was so stunned that she didn't even look up at her rescuer's face, but, in his arms, head pressed against his chest, she saw that pink trail of scar tissue that ran through the middle of chest and abdomen and hollow hole.

"Grimmjow...?"

When he looked down at her she did not see the face she expected. Yes, the bone jaw was still there, but blue his hair was dishevelled and hung low, rounding out the angular shape of his face to make it less harsh, his features less hostile. But most of all that wild and savage grin was gone and all she saw in his features was pain when he looked down at her.

"Grimmjow." The voice was Aizen's some distance away, Halibel couldn't see past her rescuer. "What are you doing?"

Halibel watched his face intently, wondering the same thing, but Grimmjow didn't turn back, didn't acknowledge the man, he just gathered her closer and flashed away.

* * *

Halibel woke gasping, though the sound was muffled behind her hollow mask. She had gone back to her regular form and now she felt the bone that covered he mouth and chest and wanted to rip it off. It felt like a cage.

But severe pain in her stomach and chest caused her attention to divert to new discomforts. She took a few minutes to recover from the shock of them before casting her golden-lashed gaze around the room.

"So I didn't dream it after all."

Her green eyes had landed on the back of the sixth espada. He was slumped, straddling a chair and staring out a window, clearly he'd been fallen asleep. He had removed his jacket and she could see the wounds that covered him as well. When he stood and turned at her voice though, she wondered how he was even standing. Two terribly deep gashes went through his middle and chest, but the worst was a crescent shaped cut running deep into his left arm and wrapping across his chest and back. Indeed, as he approached her bed, he didn't move the limb at all.

"You pulled through." he said in a voice that revealed nothing. She watched him carefully, waiting for more but he didn't seem to be in an hurry to give explanations.

She decided to prompt him. "Where are we?"

"In the human world still, but not Karakura. Some village, this house was empty."

"Why?"

"I don't know, no one lives here anymore probably."

"No, Grimmjow, _why?"_

He looked down at her seriously and again she was struck at how much softer his features seemed, how much calmer, sadder. He didn't look nearly as hateful and menacing as he normally did, but she wouldn't let herself be deceived, he could have any number of motives for saving her.

"You're my ally aren't you?" he responded bluntly.

"Aizen was your Lord, if he turned on me, there is no reason for you to betray him."

Grimmjow clenched his jaw. "I don't know, I just reacted."

"Well at least that sounds more like you."

"Shut up."

"But I thought you were in Hueco Mundo."

"I was. That Bastard Nnoitra left me for dead a couple days ago. When I came to, everyone was gone, I came here to see what was happening...and when I did, I saw Aizen attack you for no reason."

"He said he was done with me." She broke his gaze and he could tell she didn't want him to read any of her emotions.

"I saw something else..." He continued.

"What?"

"Their bodies."

Halibel turned back to face him at this. Her eyes narrowed and shone with ferocity. _Apache, Mila Rose, Sun-Sung,_ they had been her companions for so long, and then so quickly taken from her.

Grimmjow watched her struggle with the memory and then turned away.

"Don't you dare pity me, you inferior son of a–"

"Shut it!" He interrupted harshly, but then his voice softened as he reached the window. "I only meant...I lost all mine as well to those damn Soul Reapers."

"You and your fraccione defied Aizen."

"And they paid the price."

"And yet, I was loyal, and lost them all, and still he chose to throw me away."

"He's a bastard."

Silence fell for a few moments before Grimmjow turned back to her again. "So, you're wounds are healing okay?" He asked a little awkwardly.

"They'll close over in another couple of days. You're the one who needs to worry, at your level of spiritual pressure it will take you much longer to recover. In fact, I'm surprised you're still standing."

"Don't talk down to me, I've got plenty of power."

"Well you don't look very recovered for someone who was injured two days ago."

"Shut up, I'm fine." He was visibly angry at the mention of his weakness compared to her, three ranks higher was a significant difference. "Just remember who saved who." he grunted, turning away and sitting back at his post by the window. Their conversation was over, she decided to trust him for the moment, whatever his motives, and let sleep take over once more.

* * *

_She couldn't breath, she felt cool air on her bare abdomen but none of it reached her lips, her lungs, that wall of bone was always there, always suffocating her, trapping her..._

When she woke she felt vices around her wrists, attempting to pulled her hands away from her face. She'd been trying to pull her hollow mask off and suddenly became aware of the pain she'd caused between flesh and bone as she'd tried vainly to separate them.

"Wake the Hell up!" Grimmjow hollered at her but she just reacted to his grip around her and shot out wildly in the dark. He hadn't expected it and even if she was the one prostrate on the bed, her powers were greater. He crashed somewhere across the room. When she realized just what had happened, she sat up and scanned the darkness for him.

"You bitch." He groaned, rolling out of a pile of wood splinters that had been a desk and getting to his knees, though he didn't seem to be going much further. "You have a nightmare or something?"

"Something." She said and his eyes fell to the white mask that practically glowed against her dark skin in the night. She realized for the second time they had something in common: first he'd lost his friends just like her, and secondly, he was the only other espada to have a mask that directly obscured his face. But the thought left her quickly when she saw he wasn't getting to his feet. "I injured you."

"Ha!" he laughed harshly. "Don't flatter yourself," and to prove his point he stood, through it was clearly a struggle, and returned to his chair.

"You should rest, I can take watch." she insisted from the bed.

He just made a noise of annoyance and she lay back down, not to appease him but because the sharp pain in her stomach told her she should rest while she could and if he was too stubborn to admit his was hurt then that was his problem.

* * *

In the morning she moved much more easily, and sat up with manageable pain. She swung her long legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, approaching Grimmjow. He was once again slumped in the chair, but as she moved closer she realized he wasn't simply asleep. His left arm bled profusely, the crescent wound had split open when she'd thrown him in the night. She also got a closer look of the other wounds she's glimpsed earlier and some of them had reopened too, though none as badly as the one in his side.

She sighed at his stupidity for being too proud to admit he was hurt but then saw just how pale he was and how shallow his breaths were and realized he was in desperate need of healing. She drug him over to the bed and lay him out and then began to bind the wounds he should have tended to days ago.

"Such a man." she sighed, and she was justified in the sentiment, all that time as the only female espada, surrounded by all that spiritually enhanced testosterone– she had a right to be jaded. "Why _did _you save me Grimmjow?" She muttered, her voice echoing back like a thought behind her mask.

They had hardly ever talked, he'd had his fraccione, she'd had hers. He was destructive and reckless and beneath her, but here he was, nothing short of dying because of her. "You really are an idiot."

It was a full day before he came around to trade insults with her again. He woke confused, seeing the scene she'd woken to but in reverse. For a moment, he just watched her leaning back against her chair, legs crossed, arms folded, staring out into the dawn. He tried to move but hissed in pain. Adrenaline and anger and desperation had kept him moving the last few days but now that he'd finally stopped his body didn't seem eager to get going again.

"So Nnoitra did that to you?" she had moved silently next to him and he followed her gaze to his left arm, bound securely against his side. "You said he left you for dead, but you didn't say it was him who nearly killed you."

"And what makes you think it was him?"

"No mistaking that wound. I'm surprised you didn't lose that arm."

"Tch, not to someone like him."

"You're right, you shouldn't have let yourself be so wounded by an inferior."

Grimmjow glared at her but before he could retort she continued. "But I am assuming Ichigo Kurosaki was involved. These other wounds were not dealt by the seventh espada."

"Actually...he..." Grimmjow remembered laying on his back in the sand, knowing this was it, so angry that Nnoitra would claim his life but unable to move to dodge or fight. Then _he _had been there, standing over him, protecting him, after everything.

Grimmjow didn't finish his sentence, Halibel didn't push. Instead his eyes wandered to her torso, only thin scars remained of her wounds. He tried to hide his surprise.

"I told you, the difference in our powers is great." But there was no mocking or taunting in her voice so he felt no need to comment.

"What will you do then?" Grimmjow asked, knowing she had no reason to stick around now that she was better.

"I will repay my debt. But when you are better, I will go after them."

"Who? Aizen will have either wiped out the Soul Reapers or they'll have killed him."

"Whoever survives. They both deserve to pay."

" You can't possibly think you'll win." She stared back at him, those green eyes answering his question at once. "You don't plan to. You'll go down fighting."

"What else am I supposed to do? Its my nature."

_Sacrifice._ He thought. _She'll sacrifice herself for a war that's already over, for friends who are already dead._ But then, what was he? If destruction was his nature then shouldn't he want this too?

"I'll go with you then." he said finally.

"I'm not asking you to."

"I said I'm going."

"Very well. Then hurry up and get better."

* * *

Three days later they stood over the city of Karakura. Grimmjow was asking himself over and over why he had come, he didn't particularly want to die, but, he had impulsively committed to coming with her. That was really his nature, rashness, or recklessness, not destruction.

As the thoughts passed through his mind he realized something, and looking at Halibel only confirmed it. That was why she was doing this, wasn't it? Because of that label Aizen had put on her so long ago, _Sacrifice_. But she was a lot more than that, wasn't she? She could chose to live if she wanted.

"You know, Halibel..."

"Chickening out already?" her cold eyes shot sideways at him and he stared back at her stunned, then angry.

"Course not, Bitch!"

"Then what were you going to say?"

"Nothing!"

"Good, because they're coming."

"What?"

He scanned the horizon but there was nothing to see until they were right before them. It was just two: A man, unlike any man Grimmjow had ever seen, with a black and white face and strange clothes, though clearly a captain. And the girl was plain faced and stiff, sporting a lieutenant's badge on her left arm. But there was little time to register this before Halibel engaged them and Grimmjow jumped to follow.

"The war is over, haven't you heard?" the Soul Reaper hissed. "Your lord has been sealed away forever. It's a bit of a shame really, I would have loved to dissect him. I suppose you two can serve as a consolation prize."

Grimmjow shot Halibel a look: _had Aizen really been defeated? _But nothing could distract her as she traded blows with the monster man. The two of them got drawn off while Grimmjow fought the girl.

"Was he speaking the truth? Is Aizen gone?" Grimmjow asked her even as he dodge and struck.

"Yes." Was all she said, emotionless, no gloating or glee like her captain.

They fought, she had many surprises that caught him off guard and kept the battle going but eventually he succeeded in knocking her down so hard she was not about to rise anytime soon. He turned his attention to Halibel's battle.

...

This man was something else. He was disgusting, he was cruel and evil, he would serve as a worthy replacement for all the other Soul Reapers she wouldn't get to kill, as well as Aizen. But this was the end for her, she knew. Grimmjow probably couldn't sense the other Soul Reapers that lay in wait, not captains, but powerful enough. But they must also have great confidence in their captain to not interfere when Grimmjow finished the girl and came to join them. This Soul Reaper must have something pretty amazing as his power.

"You broke my Nemu." Kurotsuchi said when Grimmjow joined them. "How inconvenient. Now I'll have to repair her." he sighed at the thought and then jumped back from them. They waited to see what he was planning. "You've caused me too much work already, I'm tired of games, lets end this so I can get to dissecting you." his eyes raked over Halibel and Grimmjow felt a surprising surge of anger. "You will be most delicious to add to my collection."

"Bastard." the two espadas said as one but another word was spoken in the same instant.

"Bankai!"

Grimmjow didn't have time to react as wind swirled around them and suddenly he was facing a monstrous form, with the a yellow head of a baby and claws and–

"Shit!" the green gas struck and he knew he had already inhaled it as he made to run. His muscles betrayed him and he was falling back to earth.

He struck hard, painfully, but couldn't react, couldn't move, just stared up at the terrible figure above. The captain smiled wickedly from his perch in the sky. And then, out of the corner of his eye, Grimmjow caught a glimpse of movement. Oh, how stupid he had been. Yes, there were others, waiting to collect him and Halibel when she fell. He should have known.

"I told you the difference in our powers was great." Halibel towered over him, echoing her words of a few days ago, but he couldn't move his lips to speak. He realized he could see her face, she was in her resurrection form. "My spiritual pressure was too great, his poison could not reach me."

She knelt down and rested her hand against his bone mask. "I didn't really repay my debt by staying with you. In order to do that, I need to save you from the battlefield as you did for me. So, when the poison recedes, run. You are not Sacrifice, this does not have to be your fate."

So many things whirled through his mind at that moment but all were drowned out when she bent and sealed those so rarely-seen lips over his and kissed him deep.

He realized at once what she was doing, as her power surged into his lungs, into his heart, his blood, throughout his limbs, crushing the poison inside him. He gasped in air when she pulled away, already feeling his muscles coming back into his control. But she was gone before he could speak or move. Back to the battle with the captain, rushing to her death.

"Dammit." Grimmjow still had to wait for the process to complete, and Halibel was doing her best but he knew that she couldn't win.

The captain cut her with his three pronged sword and he saw her right arm go limp. But she never stoped. She hurled water at him, and when that failed she hurled herself at him. He was going to lay on his back and watch her die because she thought she was nothing but the name Aizen gave her.

_Because she thought she had to sacrifice herself for him_.

As this last though passed through him, so did the poison, her power finished spreading through him and forcing it out. He jumped up, Pantera in hand and ran with everything to reach her before it was too late.

* * *

Kurotsuchi's breath ghosted over her neck. Her weaponed arm was engaged with his trident but she could no longer move her left so he took advantage, snaking his white hand around her waist and pulling her close. She tried to concentrate on ripping his zampakuto from him but she felt one long fingernail bite into the skin of her back and his face moved close to hers, eyes leering down on her overly exposed body.

Then suddenly he released her and she stumbled back, disengaging completely. When she collected herself, she saw why he had let her go.

"Grimmjow, you idiot!" Halibel yelled. Kurotsuchi had caught Paterna on the descent, grabbing it by the hilt then swinging his own blade to stop the tip from continuing into him. "What are you doing? I told you to run!"

"Like Hell!" Grimmjow screamed, even as he struggled to either push the captain back or to free himself. "I'm not letting you!"

She didn't understand.

"What do you mean? You aren't letting me do what?"

"I'm not letting you–" Kurotsuchi pivoted and nailed Grimmjow in the ribs with a powerful kick. He flew sideways but landed on his feet and immediately jumped on Kurotsuchi again with a fierceness he hadn't possessed earlier in the battle.

"I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for me!" He screamed, though his eyes were locked onto the yellow ones in that monochrome face and not her own. "Not for me, not for anyone!" He shouted, Pantera grinding against the three prongs. This time he planted his foot against Kurotsuchi and it was the Soul Reaper who went spinning back into his monstrous baby-bankai.

"It's who I am." Halibel said resolutely and Grimmjow turned from the enemy to face her. The next instant he was practically on top of her, his hand wrapped around her throat. She gasped not at the pain but the sensation– that flesh was so rarely touched that it sent shivers through her to feel the warmth and sweat of his palm.

"Just because Aizen said it, doesn't make it true. Just because he says I destroy, doesn't mean I can't do other things as well. I saved you, _didn't I_?"

His hand slid away, she could not escape those blue eyes or the terrible truth they told. He believed this, he knew this, and suddenly everything she believed about herself was slipping away. If she could do more than sacrifice, it meant she could live. It meant she could let go of revenge, let go of despair. It meant that she could be more than a symbol of death.

"Grimmjow I–"

But those blue eyes widened in shock, before glazing over and she caught him before he could fall. Kurotsuchi cruelly ripped the three blades out of Grimmjow's back and laughed at Halibel as she struggled to hold him up and cover the wounds with her one arm, her weapon.

"You'll have to sacrifice him, to save yourself." Kurotsuchi sneered, never knowing the full impact of his words. She felt warm liquid run down her chest, Grimmjow had coughed up blood, his eyes barely open. He wheezed, trying to speak, trying to tell her something.

"Shut up Grimmjow." she said, hoisting him up and holding him closer. "I know, you were right." She kept him pinned against her even as she raiser her right arm.

"CASCADE!" Water rushed past them, struck the enemy, filled the land around them, sprayed in all directions, so that in one instant they were in the middle of the sky and the next they were miles away and no one could track them in the confusion. Not the terrible captain reeling back through the sky, injured but not killed, not his stoic lieutenant just rousing herself on the ground and not the Soul Reapers who'd been waiting to dive in if necessary, ready to finish off the two lonely arrancars.

Now they were miles away, both dripping, water coursing in a brook next to them, grass beneath them and a canopy above to shield them from any eyes but those of nature.

Grimmjow stared up at her golden lashes and green eyes and trailed down to her mouth and jaw, the part of her face he hardly ever saw. He was on his back, she was bent over him, her left hand, now able to move since Kurotsuchi's bankai had faded, clamped around the three wounds on his back but he could feel none of it, just cold and the metalic tinge of blood along his tongue and pooling in his throat.

"I can't believe it took someone like you to make me realize." she said condescendingly.

"Sh..ut...up..." he managed, eyes beginning to close.

"Don't be so weak. If you die now, you'll only prove my point."

"Fine...then..you..win..."

His head lolled but she pulled her hand away from his back and caught his cheek, forcing him to remain facing her. His eyes strained themselves open again.

"You know Grimmjow, Aizen was right after all. I am Sacrifice, because every time I want to use my full powers I have to sacrifice my dignity with this ridiculous form. And every time I want to conserve my dignity, I have to sacrifice the ability to breath pure air. And..." she leaned even closer, "every time I want to save a life, I have to sacrifice a part of my power, and a part of me."

He could no longer speak, but she could see in his eyes he heard. Slowly she closed the distance and pressed her lips once more over his own pale and crimson stained ones.

The feeling that washed into him was incredible. There was no doubt this woman was his superior, in strength, in ability, in power. He was no longer breathing, couldn't with her mouth occupying his, but he didn't need to, everything he needed was pouring into him, filling him, closing tissues and arteries and organs, repairing muscle and flesh. His eyes opened fully, and though all he could see was golden hair he felt her resurrection form slip away as she gave him power.

Some part of his mind told him he shouldn't still be able to touch her lips or her face, he should be met with pure bone, but her soft skin was still against his own, and he reached up with trembling hands to cup her face and she slid her right arm around his back and felt the repairs that had been made.

Finally she pulled back and looked down on him. His hand slid away from her face and his eyes closed for a moment while he breathed and let her power run its course in his body. When it passed he opened his eyes again and found her actually smiling at him.

Though she wore the short jacket, it was unzipped from her neck up. He could see the breastplate and collar of bone but it reached no further, leaving her mouth exposed. He sat up next to her, reached out tenderly and stroked the smooth flesh before withdrawing his hand and staring at her bewildered.

"Its gone."

"I had to give something up."

"You lost it for me?"

Her hand slid to his face in turn, and her smile deepened.

"A necessary sacrifice."

And just as he smiled, those lips were on him again, but this time, there was no transfer of power, no greater need, than simply to express something too deep for words to say.

END

* * *

**_Hope you enjoyed my first ever oneshot, please let me know what you thought!_**

**_Riza._**


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